(no subject)

[caliginous]

Characters: Karkat Vantas (AU) and YOU
Setting: Across the tower! Mark in the subject line, please!
Format: Action to start, but I'll follow.
Summary: Karkat has been awfully quiet lately, and hasn't quiet been seeking out others. How unusual.
Warnings: TBA

[Karkat has just had too many things on his mind. Staying out of trouble, trying not to make more people furious with him, dodging mealtimes to instead feed Spidermom. The attack on the tower had sated her slightly, but it hadn't helped his psyche any. The visions of Imperial Drones on top of more copies of Spidermom were a little too much for him.

He was still sick to his nutrition sack over the whole thing. If those drones had been real, then he would have been leaving Kanaya to them. What kind of shitty friend was he?

Oh wait. That kind of answered the question. So wherever he happens to be, Karkat will be propped against a wall, staring down at his shoes with an everpresent frown of thought.]

Comments

yes :D

[caliginous]

[Karkat doesn't acknowledge Naminé's steps. Or perhaps he was just too lost in thought to hear her approach. He's staring pointedly out the glass window and up at the gloomy gray sky, as if he's expecting something. He had never quite been the same since the nightmare realm had dragged him inside of it.

It was hard knowing that you were destined to die and fulfill no greater purpose. Kanaya had told him when she had arrived, but it still hadn't prepared him for the horribly gruesome death he had encountered.]

:D /o/

[lethechained]

[Naminé slows to a stop nearby. He seems really distracted, and, now that she's had a moment to think about it, she questions whether or not she should disturb him. Curiously, she leans a bit to try to see what, exactly, he's looking at, but when she sees nothing, she straightens again. Huh.]

[She might not have chosen to interrupt his thoughts had she not gotten the feeling that they weren't particularly nice ones. There have been so many unpleasant things going on in this tower that it's easy to find oneself hopeless, which is a feeling she's been thoroughly familiarized with, thanks to a certain event, and that thought is what finally tips her decision in the direction of speaking up. She's gentle about it, at least, in the hopes of not startling him TOO badly.]

Karkat?

[caliginous]

[Perhaps if it had been anyone else, Karkat would've jumped and snapped angrily at whoever was disturbing him. He's gotten used to the sound of Naminé's voice and her tendency to find him when he was wandering around, and so the reaction is considerably calmer than what might be expected.

He turns to regard her with his seven pupiled eye, pulling one hand out of his pocket to let it hang. The smirk is soft, and a bit forced, but its spread enough to allow one spider fang to poke out.]

Sup.

[lethechained]

[She has a small smile at the ready for him when he turns, and it grows a little when he doesn't react badly to her presence. The fact that his smirk is a touch forced doesn't escape her, but it's hard to tell that she's recognized it by the look on her own face.]

Hello. [While it's true that she'd like to ask him what's on his mind, there are also other things that need saying, and some of them might get the job done, anyway.] It's been a long time. How have you been? [By which she means both 'are you injured?' and 'are you okay?', which may be a bit obvious in the way she quickly glances over him in search of any visible damage.]

[caliginous]

[Unfortunately, Karkat's general cagey demeanor makes it difficult for him to be forward with his own feelings, despite being intimate with everyone else's (whether he wants to be or not). So when she asks her question, he offers a careless shrug.]

Alive. You know how it goes around here. Alive ain't always the best thing to be.

[He scoffs.]

[lethechained]

[Her head tilts slightly. She's no stranger to the prideful and those who'd rather keep their thoughts to themselves, but that's a bit of a... flippant way to be about such a subject, even if, in the tower, death is transient, and perhaps in some cases even preferable.] ... I know what you mean. [It's still a concerning thing to say, and she watches him a bit more closely for it.]

[caliginous]

[He notes that she's caught his act, and so his grin fades a little, eyes drifting shut.]

What about you? Staying out of trouble?

[lethechained]

[It seems like being correct is rarely a good thing, in her life. She exhales quietly, but keeps some remnants of that smile around, more for his sake than hers.]

More or less. It's not easy when trouble comes to you. [And she doesn't sound upset about that. It doesn't quite sound humorous, either, but it's closer to that than distress; it's more of a quiet acceptance of unpleasant facts without bitterness attached.] But I've been doing my best.

[caliginous]

[There's no hiding feelings from Karkat, more often than not, but he rarely feels the need to call others on it. And of course, she's hardly someone on his radar in terms of being malicious in their heart, so he has no reason to demand that she drop the act.]

Did you get a shitty arrival from home or something?

[lethechained]

[There's no malice there, indeed - assuming she's got a heart at all.]

No. Just the opposite, actually. [The edges of her mouth edge upward briefly before relaxing again, and when they come to a stop, they're a bit lower than before.] I'm... not much of a fighter, so when those monsters appeared in the tower, I couldn't do much. [And those were plenty of trouble.] I had to rely on others, and I-- caused some problems myself. [Nevermind what assistance she actually did manage to provide.]

[caliginous]

I don't know if I'd believe that. You causing problems, I mean.

[lethechained]

[His comment makes her blink at him, looking surprised. Her mouth works itself into a sheepish smile with a touch of wryness, and she half-shrugs. The smile fades away quickly.] It's true. Everyone had to help me. One of the people from my world even had to push me out of the way so that I wouldn't get hurt. He was hit instead. [Clearly, she has therefore caused trouble.]

[caliginous]

You made it sound like you slid in there trying to trip people. [He shrugs.] If people want to stick their neck out for you, that's not causing trouble. That's other people being virtuous idiots and martyrs.

Or friends. Whatever you wanna call it, I guess.

[lethechained]

-- Well, no. I didn't mean it that way. [That's certainly an interesting way of describing such people.] It's just that if I hadn't been there, it wouldn't have happened. [So it's still her fault, see?]

... Mm. That's one way to put it. [She seems a bit tentative to herself, though.]

What about you? Were you okay during-- all of that?

[caliginous]

I got knocked out somewhere along the line, so I guess. I didn't wake up with that paralysis, so I have to imagine that I didn't die.

[lethechained]

[That's certainly peculiar, but she can't say it's not a relief. She tilts her head slightly, thinking it over.]

Maybe someone was looking after you.

[caliginous]

Probably.

[He doesn't sound particularly thrilled about the possibility.]

[lethechained]

[Well, it'd probably be embarrassing to need assistance, for someone from a culture as violent as the trolls', she imagines. His lack of enthusiasm makes her own expression a bit sympathetic.]

Any guesses? [Because she's kind of hoping he has some good friends around, for his sake.]

[caliginous]

At least two, but whatever. It doesn't matter.

[lethechained]

[Her smile grows ever so slightly. Good news, then.]

Well, I'm glad you got through it okay. [No matter how it happened.]

[caliginous]

Yeah. [Pause. He's so not good when it comes to his own feelings.] You too.

[lethechained]

[She's happy to encourage him with a nod and an even larger smile. No ridicule, here.]

Thank you...!

[caliginous]

[Its one of the reasons he's gotten fond of her. Its rare that someone isn't ridiculing him for his thoughts on emotion and various other things.

So the show of gratitude pulls a genuine smile from him.]

So who was keeping an eye on you?

[lethechained]

[He'd be extremely hard pressed to manage to earn her scorn; she's been on the receiving end of entirely too much harassment to inflict it on someone else. She just doesn't have it in her. Even if she was, he probably wouldn't get it - she's fond of him, too.]

[His smile obviously both pleases and slightly surprises her, but she takes it in stride quickly enough.]

A lot of different people. [That part, though, makes her look a tiny bit sheepish. Way to mooch, Naminé.] Most of them were from my world. [Although,] There was a woman I hadn't met before then [except that was more of an assist than a looking after] and two trolls, too. [That does make her pause for a second, because she's not sure whether said trolls are from his universe, or the other Karkat's, or possibly another one entirely, and she's pretty sure she shouldn't assume he'd know them.]

[caliginous]

[An eyebrow is raised in interest at the mention of trolls. He's a gossip monger.]

Any idea which two trolls?